The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

robbie robertson

Virgil Caine is my name and I served on the Danville train
till Stoneman's cavalry came and tore up the tracks again
in the winter of sixty-five we were hungry : just barely alive
by May the tenth Richmond had fell
it was a time I re-member all so well

the night they drove old Dixie down
and all the bells were ringing
the night they drove old Dixie down
and all the people were singing
they went «na na na na na na • na na na na na na na na na»

back with my wife in Tennessee when one day she called to me
«Virgil quick come see ! there goes Robert E. Lee»
now I don't mind choppin' wood and I don't care if the money's no good
you take what you need and you leave the rest
but they should never have taken the very best

like my father before me I will work the land
and like my brother above me who took a rebel stand
he was just eighteen so proud and brave but a yankee laid him in his grave
I swear by the mud below my feet
you can't raise a Cain back up when he's in defeat